From Afar
by megglette
Summary: Ginny receives a Christmas card with an intriguing proposition on the back. Part of the DG SS '16.


For Desertisle,

I'm so sorry this came late to the exchange, there was a bit of family trouble that prevented me from finishing it. Thank you for being so patient.

Prompt: Fireplace, Reindeer, Christmas Card

"Ginny! Wake up! The Blibbering Humdingers prey on buttery hair." Ginny jerked upright at the long breakfast table. Her head had been drooping, her hair dangerously close to getting in her toast. Blearily rubbing her eyes, she turned to see Luna Lovegood setting herself delicately on the bench beside her, facing away from the table.

"Hey, Luna," she mumbled, checking her hair for any butter or marmalade before carefully tucking it behind her ear, and over her shoulder. She hadn't cut it for several years, after a Molly-induced haircut had left her with a blunt, unstylish bob before her third year. Now, nearly two and a half years later, it was halfway down her back, and constantly getting caught under her knapsack straps.

Not satisfied that the threat of Blibbering Hum-whatevers was truly over, Luna turned and started combing through the ends of Ginny's long hair with her fingers, inspecting each piece thoroughly. Luna meant well, and Ginny knew that, but she couldn't help but feel like a chimp being groomed.

"Weasley, I didn't realize your family was so heathenish as to rely on friends grooming you in public." As though hearing her thoughts, a cold imperious shadow now stood above them, flanked on either side by hulking bodyguards. Ginny turned around, sharpening her tongue as she went.

"Malfoy, I didn't realize you knew what friends were, considering you've always had to pay for even the most repulsive of company," she replied as disdainfully as she could muster. He cocked an eyebrow at her and looked back and forth between his tall, broad doors of companions.

"Perhaps they are a bit lacking in the conversation department—" one of the behemoths grunted, possibly in assent. The other was too busy picking his nose. " –but Crabbe and Goyle come with certain perks." He looked back at them expectantly. The nose-picker was showing his findings to the other, who was looking on in admiration. Malfoy cleared his throat, and the two guards snapped to attention, wiping their hands, and making menacing punching motions into their own fists. "Very convincing, you numbskulls," Malfoy muttered under his breath, glaring at said numbskulls while he turned back to the Gryffindor table.

Ginny smirked a little. It seemed even Malfoy couldn't stand his entourage. She knew from listening in on Harry and Ron in the Common room that Draco had been charged with some task for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and that Crabbe and Goyle were now guarding Malfoy from running off, perhaps even more than they were with him for an excuse to bully first years.

Malfoy noticed the tiny crook of Ginny's mouth, and seemed to stare at it just a little too long. He pursed his lips and turned away without a final insult. Watching his retreating form, Ginny noticed a break in Malfoy's cultivated appearance. His tie had not been centered, as it normally was. His pants seemed less crisp and pleated than they normally did. His hair was no longer greased back, but left loose, although well cut. Ginny caught herself noticing his retreating bum more than any of these other anomalies. All those year as Seeker had sculpted Draco Malfoy's somewhat sizeable derriere…

Ginny shook her head, trying to clear her mind of that finely-toned ass, and clear her cheeks from their traitorous blush. She furrowed her brow, trying to pass off the blush as anger, instead of the embarrassing hint of arousal it really was.

While Malfoy had been tormenting them, the owl post had come in for the day, dropping the first few Christmas gifts and cards on the students. The end of term and the holidays were fast approaching, and the professors were all trying to squeeze in as much homework and new information as they could in the last week before the students were granted blissful freedom. Ergo why Ginny was so tired all the time. As a fifth year, she had OWL exams to look forward to, come June. A fact no professor let them forget for too long.

As she thought wistfully of the Christmas break, and then someday the summer break beyond—any time she would be able to sleep again—a brown envelope landed on her plate. She looked to see the owl that delivered it, and found Errol, the Weasley's old Grey owl, skidding into Dennis Creevey's porridge a few seats down.

"Sorry, Den!" She called down breezily. Dennis smiled a lopsided, toothy grin at her, wiping porridge off his eyebrow.

"'S alright Ginny!" He said at her, somewhat wistfully. It was no surprise to Ginny that Colin's little brother had a crush on her. Colin had confessed his crush on Ginny to Luna last year, after an experimental afternoon with Firewhiskey. Luna had absently told Ginny, much to Colin's chagrin. Ginny had rebuffed him, but Colin still held on to his feelings for her, some that his brother obviously shared.

As she opened the envelope, the usual Christmas card from her mum asking what color she wanted her annual sweater to be, a second envelope landed daintily by her glass.

A regal eagle owl had landed very gracefully on the rim of a fruit bowl, and was staring down at her imperiously, expecting praise. Ginny disliked being looked down on, and this was the second time this morning too. But the bird was absolutely stunning, and she offered it the corner of her orange marmalade toast before picking up the cream-colored envelope.

It was very high quality stationary. On the front was her name, carefully written in flowing script. It was the same, old fashioned kind of penmanship her mother had taught her when she was young, before her chubby fingers could master the quill. She had never seen anyone write in the same flowing, curled, cursive lettering. She looked for any sign of its origin before carefully sliding her finger under the corner and peeling back the flap of the envelope. It opened without ripping, charmed to be as clean and graceful as the eagle owl who delivered it.

Inside was a photo, another Christmas card, with a picture of a roaring fireplace, cheerfully burning away. At the peak of the grand opening, was a sprig of mistletoe. Ginny carefully flipped the photo over. On the back was written, "Meet me in the Room of Requirement on Friday night. ~From afar" in the same flowing script.

Ginny's eyes darted to Colin and Dennis. This seemed just like them. The enchanted photo, the Room of Requirement from their DA meetings last year. And Ginny was not impressed. But neither boy was watching her, and the note said "From afar", which both of the Creevey boys were very close.

Ginny thought of the boys from other houses who could be her mystery letter writer. Justin Finch Fletchley was a likely option. And Ernie Mcmillian had asked her very pompously to go to Hogsmeade with him last year. His imperious attitude matched the eagle owl that was now preening itself. Imperious…. Malfoy was imperious. The image of his round bum flashed into Ginny's mind. She promptly blushed again, and shoved the photo into her school bag. She had until tomorrow evening to decide whether to show or not. If it was Ernie, she could turn around and leave immediately. If it was Draco….

Turning to face her friend, Ginny cleared her throat and said, as casually as possible, "Shall we go to class?"

Luna was looking over Ginny's head, back at the eagle owl, who was taking delicate sips of Ginny's pumpkin juice before rising with a contented sigh, pronouncing, "Your hair is free of Blibbering Humdingers, and the owl has eaten any scouts who'd come to mark you."

Ginny took Luna's arm, rolling her eyes slightly, and walked off to Charms with her.

The rest of the day passed blurredly, rowdy classes and stressed out teachers chiding their every giggle. Slughorn took 5 points away from Ginny for adding her chopped dandelion root "carelessly." Ginny bit her tongue, but did not complain at the injustice. The recipe clearly stated they should be added 'aggressively', but that would not matter to a Slytherin.

After a long day of classes, Ginny hiked up to Gryffindor tower to drop off her bag and pull on an old sweater and some tight, Muggle exercise leggings Hermione had bought for her. Grabbing the beaten Cleansweep she was borrowing from the school, Ginny threw her hair into a high pony tail before jogging down the stairs. She told herself that being a little late was good, and that her jog made up for her missing warm ups. Besides, Harry would be too distracted to notice.

Running down the stairs, Ginny was thinking about all the homework she was going to have to do after this, and how little sleep she would be getting again, when her trainer caught the step and she went flying off the stairs right as a tall boy came around the corner.

Ginny landed right on top of him, her fall cushioned by the muscular chest of Draco Malfoy.

She pushed herself off him to look into his grey and startled eyes. "Oh shit, sorry!" she said, trying to scramble to her knees and off him. In the fall, his long dark robes had tangled around her leggings and shoes, and she couldn't pull herself up immediately. She eventually collected herself, and looked down at Malfoy, who had propped himself on his elbows, clutching his head. He had not made any moves to get off the floor, but was looking at her curiously.

"Do you always fling yourself on people like this?" he said, with rather less venom than Ginny had expected. She realized he was alone, without his guards, and that his eyes had bags under them, with a dark purple tinge. It threw off his snow-white coloring, she thought.

"Oh, uh, no. Not normally. Sorry. Quidditch, and uh…" Ginny said.

"Not the first time I've been bowled over," Draco said, finally sitting up some. "What are you wearing, by the way?"

Ginny looked down at herself. The sweater she had absently grabbed had been from the large pile of old Christmas sweaters her mum had knit over the years. This one had a reindeer stag, laying down seductively by the fire with a glass of wine. Initially, it had just been a reindeer standing by the fire, but Ginny had made fun of it enough that, with Fred and George's help, she had charmed it to rearrange the stitches to the new, less wholesome design.

"Oh, well, my mum always knits us sweaters, and the one from last year was kind of boring, and so I charmed this one to be more interesting and funny…" She trailed off, realizing she was blabbering from nervousness. Ginny had a very dirty sense of humor, but not very many people got to see it. Somehow it felt even naughtier than usual trying to explain it to Draco Malfoy. He had stood up finally, and was brushing himself off, and adjusting his shirt. A flash of the old vanity, Ginny thought wryly.

"I can't imagine what your mother would say. Although…. I've never spoken to her, so I don't know anything that she would say…" Draco said, nervously fiddling with his cuffs.

"She wasn't that pleased, but complemented the charmwork. Went after the twins for teaching it to me though," Ginny giggled at the memory. Draco's own lips quirked into a smile, as though remembering the twins' antics himself.

"Things were lighter when they were here," Draco said almost wistfully. "Have a good practice," he said turning to walk away.

Ginny turned and walked out of the great hall, onto the grounds. 'Did I just have a fun, reminiscing conversation about my BROTHERS with Draco Malfoy?!' Ginny realized, stunned. 'He didn't even ridicule me at all? Maybe he's changing, with the war on.' Ginny sped up, resuming her jog, pondering the likelihood, and complexities, of a nicer Malfoy. She remembered his performance this morning, making fun of her and her family. Maybe that's all it was, a performance. When she caught him alone just now, well, he was almost funny.

Ginny was late to practice, even more than usual, and had to do extra exercises after everyone else left. She was too honorable to skive off and go back early, but she cursed Harry with every Burpee. When she finally dragged herself back to the common room, took a shower, and sat down to her homework, it was nearly 11 pm. Hours of homework later, and it was 4 in the morning. She closed her books, and threw herself into bed without even getting under the covers.

The next morning, she was reminded of the impending meeting that night, after Luna again came to sit backwards on the bench, claiming that it was good luck against Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. "You know they frequently follow Blibbering Humdingers. The Humdingers nest in the Snorkacks' skin." Which was really unarguable, considering Ginny didn't believe they existed. "What are you going to do about your date tonight?"

That took Ginny away from her comfortable dozing while she mixed her tea. "Huh? Meeting? Oh…" Ginny's cheeks flushed, and she looked sideways at Luna, ready to accuse her of spying. "How did you know about that?"

"You opened the letter right in front of me. How could I not notice? Besides, I wanted to keep an eye on those Humdingers that came with the letter." Luna was matter of fact, but still delivered the information with the classic airy, noncommittal manner she always did. Carefully swiping the crispiest parts of Ginny's hashbrowns, Luna stood up and walked in a bizarre waltz away from the table.

Ginny stared after her hazily, in part seeing the dancing girl in front of her, and in part picturing who she would meet under that mistletoe.

The rest of the day passed in much the same haze. Her final class of the day, Defense against the Dark Arts, was a tolerable Hell. Ginny focused her glassy eyes on the chalkboard ahead of her, deftly writing down the notes without paying any attention to what they said. She was far too distracted picturing the warm fire and the tantalizing sprig of mistletoe waiting in the Room of Requirement.

Partly she did not care who she found there. And partly she really did care. But it would be lovely to have a holiday snog right before the Christmas break, and depending on who was there, she could forget them over the break, and ignore them when classes started again in January.

The final sonorous words of Snape died out right as the bell was beginning to ring. She got the feeling he had been lecturing about something serious, but with Snape's voice, everything sounded like a matter of life and death. She carefully tucked away her books, careful not to crush the photo she was still carrying in her knapsack, and shuffled out of the room with the rest of her classmates.

Uncharacteristically, Ginny headed right to the library to do her break homework. She had 3 weeks to do them at home, but something about the idea of being left alone with the anticipation of her date terrified her. And there was still a double period before dinner, and she took advantage of it, scrawling out details to homework assignments on a spare sheet of parchment, so she could do the assignments properly later. She had three textbooks lain open, overlapping each other while she carefully selected details from each to include on her potions essay, and a fourth open to reference with a herbology book Neville had recommended to her. She absorbed herself on the consequences of the various replacements for crocodile hearts in potion brewing for several hours, before glancing at the clock and noticing dinner was almost over.

Not so carefully, she shoved her parchments and papers into her knapsack, thinking that if the photo got squashed, she would be seeing the real thing soon enough anyways. She stacked the three books somewhat more carefully and brought them carefully to rest on the top of Madame Pince's recirculation desk, checking them in with a respectful nod to the formidable librarian. She then scurried quickly out of the library, tossing her hair over her shoulder in the same motion she adjusted the too-full knapsack on her shoulder. Opening the door a little too quickly, she came face to face with the grey eyes she had seen all too often over the past few days.

Draco Malfoy had his hand on the inside of the door, pulling it outwards toward himself. Without the weight of the heavy door she was expecting, Ginny pushed herself right into his chest, and looked up at the strong jaw and aquiline nose hovering just above her eyes.

"Really now, Ginny. A bloke would start to think you fancied him," he said quietly, right into her ear. Ginny barely stiffened, enjoying the warm tickle of his breath and husky voice.

"I, uh, didn't mean it. Sorry?" she said back, almost as quietly. She looked up at him as she apologized.

"Ehem, watch your path, ok? You might not run into people as accommodating as me," he cleared his throat.

'Or as attractive,' she thought as she nodded, stepping back to let Draco into the library.

She walked down the hallway a little dreamily. Whoever her mystery man was, she hoped he had a chest as firm as Draco Malfoy.

After a rushed dinner and trip up to the dormitory, Ginny was dressed for her encounter. She had put her long hair up in a practical ponytail before adding a festive red bow. She put on another Christmas sweater, this one green with a silvery snowflake on it, before putting on a black velvet skirt and the only pair of black tights she had without a hole in them. Her normal school shoes would have to do.

She tip toed up to the seventh floor, scared of what she might find. It was before curfew, but the threat of who might be waiting made her steps tentative, measured. After walking back and forth past the spot in the wall just past the tapestry of Barnaby the Barmy three times, thinking of the burning fire, a handsome door appeared. Letting out a deep breath, Ginny let herself in.

Silhouetted against the tall flames, was a muscular, tall figure. She couldn't make out his coloring, but Ginny had a strong suspicion she'd seen that ass before.

When she got close to him, the white blond hair was unmistakable.

"I hoped it was you," she said quietly.

"Really? I thought you would be disappointed." Draco said gently, still facing the fire, as though afraid to look at her.

"With that ass? Who could be disappointed?" Ginny said crassly. She was joking a little, too giddy to be wary.

Draco's face broke into a grin, and he turned towards her. "You do have a dirty sense of humour, huh?"

Ginny shrugged, and stepped forward, "Doesn't seem to bother you."

"No it doesn't." Draco stepped forward too, taking her waist in his left hand. With his right he pointed just above Ginny's head. "Mistletoe." He pointed out, somewhat obviously.

"Why do you think I stood here?" Ginny looked at him from under her eyelashes, a flush rising in her cheeks. Draco's eyebrow jumped up, and he tried to suppress a new smile as he leant down to press his lips against hers.

Much later, Ginny returned to the Gryffindor Common room, her hair a little mussed, flyaways tickling her eyes and cheeks. After nearly yelling the password to the Fat Lady, Ginny practically bounded upstairs and into her four-poster bed. She pulled the thick curtains around her, grabbing her knapsack from her bedside table. After digging around in the bottom, she pulled out the photo of the fire place. The fireplace where she had just spent the better part of two hours snogging Draco Malfoy senseless. Snogging, and maybe a little more.

Ginny clenched into a small ball with glee, clutching the picture to her chest. She changed into her comfiest set of pajamas and snuggled under her covers without saying goodnight to any of her roommates. Although it was not late, Ginny wanted to go to sleep soon, excited to dream and remember.

It was going to be an excruciatingly long Christmas Break.


End file.
